Have you ever heard the saying “If you build it, they will come”? The phrase is frequently used by business people who have an idea for a product or venue. That phrase popped into my head as I was walking through the grocery store the other day. I noticed that some of the foods people were purchasing were great, some foods were so-so, and a lot of foods were just plain terrible. This observation made me realize that a person’s wallet can be a diet disaster or a diet savior. The phrase that came to my mind was this: “If you buy it, you will likely eat it.” Like many women, I am the primary food shopper in my house. My husband and older children sometimes pick up things from the grocery store, but I purchase most of the food that comes into the house. The same was true when I was morbidly obese. All the candy, ice cream, cakes, chips, and other unhealthy foods that came into our house were purchased using my wallet. I’d load up my grocery cart with all kinds of treats, swipe my debit card, and bring all the junk home. And then I ate more than my fair share of it. When we went out to dinner as a family, I usually paid. At that time in my life, my wallet was a diet disaster. I’d like you to take a hard look at your purchasing habits. Are they helping or hurting your weight loss efforts? Everyone needs to eat, but you don’t need to spend your hard-earned money on foods that spell disaster for your dieting attempts. Here are some things to think about the next time you are food shopping or getting ready to eat at a restaurant.
1. Is this food the best choice I can make?
Before you check out or finalize your restaurant order, rate the food in terms of how diet friendly it is. Does it help or hurt your overall weight loss goals? For example, a box of sugary cereal isn’t as good a choice as rolled oats that you can use to make smoothies, oatmeal, or grind up and add to a healthy casserole dish. And that fried food platter at a restaurant definitely won’t help you lose weight.
2. Am I saving or wasting money?
Many people are budget conscious in this challenging economy. When you buy food that isn’t healthy or diet friendly, you aren’t saving money, but instead wasting it. Eating unhealthy foods not only slows down or stalls your weight loss but also contributes to health problems. Over time, you could end up spending a lot of money at the doctor’s office because of your poor food purchases.
3. How else could I spend this money?
If you have ever said you can’t afford to hire a trainer, join a gym, or enlist the help of a life coach, you might want to look at your food purchases. Looking back, I realize I could have afforded individual weight loss help if I had cut back on expensive, unhealthy restaurant food and junk food at the grocery store. Perhaps you can too. Viewing your wallet as a diet disaster or a diet savior can really make a difference in the choices you make when eating out or grocery shopping. After all, if you don’t buy the junk, it doesn’t come into your house. And if it’s not in your house, you won’t be able to eat it.
